TdM fool - his torn pants?

Debra

I always want to see the dog as his companion, despite the fact that It's biting him on the butt.
 

Yelell

I just couldn't resist this bare-ass overcoming Modesty clip: http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/bare-assed-jockey-defeats-modesty-1699680855
At least his butt wasn't blue!
I see the Marseille Fool as being exposed: unprotected, vulnerable. The dog - instinct - reveals what is most objectionable.

The Este Tarot Fool is, perhaps, most explicit: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-amJhpKZ7w...AEEk/sFpVJQ2IhXs/s1600/00badeste1012110SM.jpg

I've been avoiding saying it, but I remember in psych class reading the history of terminology for the intellectually disabled. People were called idiots, fools, sometimes because of odd behavior, they were called mad(insane.). The visconti fool and wirth fool especially look unable to really defend themselves. I've seen these fools as harassed, humiliated, ridiculed -- not on the start of a wondrous new journey.

Actually, I think that picture is from the same place I was just at trying to read about Temperance. I 'll have to look and see what it says about the fool as well.
 

Zephyros

I've been avoiding saying it, but I remember in psych class reading the history of terminology for the intellectually disabled. People were called idiots, fools, sometimes because of odd behavior, they were called mad(insane.). The visconti fool and wirth fool especially look unable to really defend themselves. I've seen these fools as harassed, humiliated, ridiculed -- not on the start of a wondrous new journey.

Why not both? The Fool as the outcast, for whatever reason, fits both modern as well as traditional interpretations. It is a sign of being comfortable when a person stays where they are, something has to happen to make them leave everything behind.

In addition, the mental problems implied here could be a throwback to the "divine idiot" or "idiot savent" (as in the film Rain Man) which was, at the time, symbolically seen as pure innocence. Although in practice these people led hellish lives, the symbolism is still valid.
 

Richard

Before Taoism became a religion (the very existence of which testifies to a total misunderstanding of its philosophy), its adherents were often considered fools because they marched to the beat of a different drummer. People always have had a tendency to sic dogs (literally and figuratively) on outcasts and nonconformists. They have been brainwashed to fear and despise anything which is outside the norm.

:thumbsup: to the bare-assed jockey referenced by Teheuti.